I’ve been excited for this day since I saw the weather report on Monday. The weather was absolutely amazing and the Fish was packed. Reports are over 2000 fans at the game.

The game: meh. Oaks had a good start, but 14 left on base. Blah.

The pregame: Awesome. Jim Abbott is an amazing story and, by all accounts, a great person. He got his jersey retired before the game and it was a very nice, simple ceremony and Abbott made a nice speech thanking everybody who helped him with his goal. He also signed autographs for about 3 innings. Amazing guy.

I overheard someone talking with an event staff guy about how he would always play basketball with his friends at the CCRB and would dominate the court. One day this kid asks to get in and play, but he only had one hand. The guy telling story said the other team didn’t want him, so he picked him up just being nice. Early on in the game the storyteller threw a fastbreak pass to Abbott, who caught one handed on the run and dunked it. They played together in a few different leagues for the next couple of years. Awesome.

There weren’t too many people at the Fish near the top of the first game today. Understandable, but unfortunate since the game was awesome and the weather was perfect. Anyway, Tim and I were in the stands and one of the sports marketing reps asked us if we were going to be there for a while; we responded “yeah.” She asked us if we wanted to do a tricycle race.

Hell yes.

The gauntlet was cast. Tim and I, friends for years, were now bitter foes. As we walked out onto the warning track by the Michigan dugout, the adrenaline started pumping, and I could feel my heartbeating in my ears. We mounted our ignoble steeds and prepared for what could only be a death race.

There was no play by play announcing for this race; it would have only served to take away from the pureness of the act, but if there was, it would sound a little something like this:

AAAAAAAND they’re off!

…Well, one of them is off. Paul is still sitting at the starting line spinning his front wheel.

Tim is nearing the turn as Timmy Kalz gives Paul some obviously sage advice as he gets 20 pounds of aluminum and rubber to stop spinning and start moving.

Paul is pedaling furiously, finding his rhythm and a first wind! He’s making up ground at a ferocious pace. He gets to the turn with a nice line, and HE’S AROUND. HE’S COMING DOWN THE STRETCH *cough*Tim crosses the finish line*cough* AND HE’S STILL GAINING GROUND ON TIM. THIS COMPETITOR HAS A HEART OF A LION.

Paul leans in and CROSSES THE FINISH LINE and crashes into Tim’s tricycle, which luckily Tim had already dismounted. In fact, Tim is already back in his seat. Damn, that Paul kid is slow.

In case that didn’t do it for you, here are some pictures (note: there wasn’t a professional photographer for this; lame, right?):

First of all, if you haven’t already checked out the video Dylan posted, you should take some time and do so now.

Done? Alright. A few people have asked me how full Crisler was. There were probably between 1500 and 2000 people all sitting in the lower bowl on the East sideline. That area was pretty full, a few seats here or there, but fairly packed. Apparently, Beilein dind’t originally intend on doing a big event, but as he walked around and saw the cheerleaders’ and managers’ and students’ excitement, he realized that this meant a lot to the entire Michigan community. I’m glad he came to his realization, because it really was a special moment, and it was awesome to experience it with that many other people.

Our good friends at WOLV Student Television were there covering the event. For those of you who don’t know, this blog started out as a companion blog for the show Tim produced about Michigan football. Luckily, we’re still close with WOLV, and they were nice enough to share some pictures:

Furthermore, if you’d like to see some video of the celebration and some interviews, WOLV’s very own Kaitlin Urka put together this piece on the Selection Show event:

Thanks to WOLV for the media, and if you’re in the dorms you can catch original WOLV programming on channel 55.

I took some pictures at the beginning of the game of the atmosphere. The combination of being pretty far away from the action, not having a telephoto lens, the sky looking like it was ready to open at any time and my desire to enjoy the game kept me from taking more pictures.

I went to the game on Saturday against Arizona. I didn’t make it out to the UK game today and it doesn’t look like there’s a great opportunity for another chance against Arizona (currently 11 – 6 Wildcats). I’ll post a recap on Monday.

Taking a page out of the MGoBlue.com book, instead of having a heavy a page with a lot of images, you get a slide show!

If you’d like to get high quality versions of the images you can look through them here or just click on the picture. I guess you can even order prints if you’re into that kind of thing.

I’m going to try to get my initial impressions posted tonight before the standard college Saturday night starts. Look for player and coach interviews to be up tomorrow. The footage from the scrimmage, warm-ups and position drills will be posted throughout the week.